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Punishment and Reward of Kali Srimad Bhagavatham 1.17.1 – 8. Prayers before reciting Srimad Bhagavatam. Om namah bhagavate vasudevaya I offer my obeisances to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva. narayanam namaskritya naram chaiva narottamam
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Prayers before reciting Srimad Bhagavatam Om namah bhagavate vasudevaya • I offer my obeisances to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva. narayanam namaskritya naram chaiva narottamam devim sarasvatim vyasamtato jayam udirayet • Before reciting this Srimad-Bhagavatam, which is the very means of conquest, one should offer respectful obeisances unto the Personality of Godhead, Narayana, unto Nara-narayana Rishi, the supermost human being, unto Mother Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, and unto Srila Vyasadeva, the author. SB 1.2.4 Shrinvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-shravana-kirtanah hridy antah stho hy abhadrani vidhunoti suhrit satam • Sri Krishna, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramatma in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted. SB 1.2.17 nashta-prayeshu abhadreshu nityam bhagavata-sevaya bhagavaty uttama-shloke bhaktir bhavati naishthiki • By regular attendance in classes on the Bhagavatam and by rendering service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.
Sri Guru Pranam Om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-shalakaya chakshur unmilitam yena tasmai shri-guruve namaha I was born in the darkest of ignorance, and my spiritual master opened my eyes with the torch of knowledge. I offer my respectful obeisances unto him. Mukham karoti vacalam pangam langhayate girim yat-krpa tam aham vande sri gurum dina tarine I offer my respectful obeisances to my Spiritual Master, the deliverer of fallen souls, whose mercy turns the dumb into eloquent speakers and enables the lame to cross mountains.
sūtauvācatatra go-mithunaḿ rājāhanyamānamanāthavatdaṇḍa-hastaḿ cavṛṣalaḿdadṛśenṛpa-lāñchanam 1.17.1 SūtaGosvāmī said: After reaching that place, MahārājaParīkṣit observed that a lower-caste śūdra, dressed like a king, was beating a cow and a bull with a club, as if they had no owner.
Key points from the purport • The principal sign of the age of Kali is that lower-caste śūdras, i.e., men without brahminical culture and spiritual initiation,will be dressed like administrators or kings, and the principal business of such non-kṣatriya rulers will be to kill the innocent animals, especially the cows and the bulls, who shall be unprotected by their masters, the bona fide vaiśyas, the mercantile community. • In the Bhagavad-gītā (18.44), it is said that the vaiśyas are meant to deal in agriculture, cow protection and trade. In the age of Kali, the degraded vaiśyas, the mercantile men, are engaged in supplying cows to slaughterhouses. • The kṣatriyas are meant to protect the citizens of the state, whereas the vaiśyas are meant to protect the cows and bulls and utilize them to produce grains and milk. The cow is meant to deliver milk, and the bull is meant to produce grains. • But in the age of Kali, the śūdra class of men are in the posts of administrators, and the cows and bulls, or the mothers and the fathers, unprotected by the vaiśyas, are subjected to the slaughterhouses organized by the śūdra administrators.
1.17.2 vṛṣaḿ mṛṇāla-dhavalaḿ mehantamivabibhyatam vepamānaḿ padaikena sīdantaḿ śūdra-tāḍitam The bull was as white as a white lotus flower. He was terrified of the śūdra who was beating him, and he was so afraid that he was standing on one leg, trembling and urinating.
Key points from the purport • The next symptom of the age of Kali is that principles of religion, which are all spotlessly white, like the white lotus flower, will be attacked by the uncultured śūdra population of the age. • They may be descendants of brāhmaṇa or kṣatriya forefathers, but in the age of Kali, for want of sufficient education and culture of Vedic wisdom, such a śūdra-like population will defy the principles of religion, and persons who are religiously endowed will be terrified by such men. • They will declare themselves as adherents of no religious principles, and many "isms" and cults will spring up in Kali-yuga only to kill the spotless bull of religion. • The state will be declared to be secular, or without any particular principle of religion, and as a result there will be total indifference to the principles of religion. • The citizens will be free to act as they like, without respect for sādhu, śāstra and guru. The bull standing on one leg indicates that the principles of religion are gradually diminishing. Even the fragmental existence of religious principles will be embarrassed by so many obstacles as if in the trembling condition of falling down at any time.
1.17.3 gāḿ ca dharma-dughāḿ dīnāḿ bhṛśaḿ śūdra-padāhatām vivatsāmāśru-vadanāḿ kṣāmāḿ yavasamicchatīm Although the cow is beneficial because one can draw religious principles from her, she was now rendered poor and calfless. Her legs were being beaten by a śūdra. There were tears in her eyes, and she was distressed and weak. She was hankering after some grass in the field.
Key points from the purport • The next symptom of the age of Kali is the distressed condition of the cow. Milking the cow means drawing the principles of religion in a liquid form. The great ṛṣis and munis would live only on milk. ŚrīlaŚukadevaGosvāmī would go to a householder while he was milking a cow, and he would simply take a little quantity of it for subsistence. Even fifty years ago, no one would deprive a sādhu of a quart or two of milk, and every householder would give milk like water. • For a Sanātanist (a follower of Vedic principles) it is the duty of every householder to have cows and bulls as household paraphernalia, not only for drinking milk, but also for deriving religious principles. The Sanātanist worships cows on religious principles and respects brāhmaṇas. The cow's milk is required for the sacrificial fire, and by performing sacrifices the householder can be happy.
Key points from the purport • The cow's calf not only is beautiful to look at, but also gives satisfaction to the cow, and so she delivers as much milk as possible. But in the Kali-yuga, the calves are separated from the cows as early as possible for purposes which may not be mentioned in these pages of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The cow stands with tears in her eyes, the śūdra milkman draws milk from the cow artificially, and when there is no milk the cow is sent to be slaughtered. These greatly sinful acts are responsible for all the troubles in present society. • People do not know what they are doing in the name of economic development. The influence of Kali will keep them in the darkness of ignorance. Despite all endeavors for peace and prosperity, they must try to see the cows and the bulls happy in all respects. • Foolish people do not know how one earns happiness by making the cows and bulls happy, but it is a fact by the law of nature. Let us take it from the authority of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and adopt the principles for the total happiness of humanity.
1.17.4 papraccharathamārūḍhaḥ kārtasvara-paricchadam megha-gambhīrayāvācā samāropita-kārmukaḥ MahārājaParīkṣit, well equipped with arrows and bow and seated on a gold-embossed chariot, spoke to him [the śūdra] with a deep voice sounding like thunder.
Key points from the purport • An administrative head or king like MahārājaParīkṣit, with full majestic authority, well equipped with weapons to chastise miscreants, can challenge the agents of the age of Kali. Then only will it be possible to counteract the degraded age. • And in the absence of such strong executive heads, there is always disruption of tranquility. • The elected show-bottle executive head, as representative of a degraded public, cannot be equal with a strong king like MahārājaParīkṣit. • The dress or style of royal order does not count. It is one's actions which are counted.
1.17.5 kastvaḿ mac-charaṇeloke balāddhaḿsyabalānbalī nara-devo 'siveṣeṇa naṭavatkarmaṇādvijaḥ Oh, who are you? You appear to be strong and yet you dare kill, within my protection, those who are helpless! By your dress you pose yourself to be a godly man [king], but by your deeds you are opposing the principles of the twice-born kṣatriyas..
Key points from the purport • The brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas and vaiśyas are called twice-born because for these higher classes of men there is one birth by parental conjugation and there is another birth of cultural rejuvenation by spiritual initiation from the bona fide ācārya, or spiritual master. So a kṣatriya is also twice-born like a brāhmaṇa, and his duty is to give protection to the helpless. • The kṣatriya king is considered to be the representative of God to give protection to the helpless and chastise the miscreants. Whenever there are anomalies in this routine work by the administrators, there is an incarnation of the Lord to reestablish the principles of a godly kingdom. • In the age of Kali, the poor helpless animals, especially the cows, which are meant to receive all sorts of protection from the administrative heads, are killed without restriction. Thus the administrative heads under whose noses such things happen are representatives of God in name only. Such powerful administrators are rulers of the poor citizens by dress or office, but factually they are worthless, lower-class men without the cultural assets of the twice-born. • No one can expect justice or equality of treatment from once-born (spiritually uncultured) lower-class men. Therefore in the age of Kali everyone is unhappy due to the maladministration of the state. • The modern human society is not twice-born by spiritual culture. Therefore the people's government, by the people who are not twice-born, must be a government of Kali in which everyone is unhappy.
1.17.6 yastvaḿ kṛṣṇe gate dūraḿ saha-gāṇḍīva-dhanvanā śocyo 'syaśocyānrahasi praharanvadhamarhasi You rogue, do you dare beat an innocent cow because Lord Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, the carrier of the Gāṇḍīva bow, are out of sight? Since you are beating the innocent in a secluded place, you are considered a culprit and therefore deserve to be killed.
Key points from the purport • In a civilization where God is conspicuously banished, and there is no devotee warrior like Arjuna, the associates of the age of Kali take advantage of this lawless kingdom and arrange to kill innocent animals like the cow in secluded slaughterhouses. • Such murderers of animals stand to be condemned to death by the order of a pious king like MahārājaParīkṣit. • For a pious king, the culprit who kills an animal in a secluded place is punishable by the death penalty, exactly like a murderer who kills an innocent child in a secluded place.
1.17.7 tvaḿ vāmṛṇāla-dhavalaḥ pādairnyūnaḥ padācaran vṛṣa-rūpeṇakiḿ kaścid devo naḥ parikhedayan Then he [MahārājaParīkṣit] asked the bull: Oh, who are you? Are you a bull as white as a white lotus, or are you a demigod? You have lost three of your legs and are moving on only one. Are you some demigod causing us grief in the form of a bull?
Key points from the purport • At least up to the time of MahārājaParīkṣit, no one could imagine the wretched conditions of the cow and the bull. • MahārājaParīkṣit, therefore, was astonished to see such a horrible scene. • He inquired whether the bull was not a demigod assuming such a wretched condition to indicate the future of the cow and the bull.
1.17.8 najātukauravendrāṇāḿ dordaṇḍa-parirambhite bhū-tale 'nupatantyasmin vināteprāṇināḿ śucaḥ Now for the first time in a kingdom well protected by the arms of the kings of the Kuru dynasty, I see you grieving with tears in your eyes. Up till now no one on earth has ever shed tears because of royal negligence.
Key points from the purport • The protection of the lives of both the human beings and the animals is the first and foremost duty of a government. A government must not discriminate in such principles. • It is simply horrible for a pure-hearted soul to see organized animal-killing by the state in this age of Kali. MahārājaParīkṣit was lamenting for the tears in the eyes of the bull, and he was astonished to see such an unprecedented thing in his good kingdom. • Men and animals were equally protected as far as life was concerned. That is the way in God's kingdom.
From HH Romapada Swami’s web site • Maharaj Paraksit was protected by Lord Krishna from the womb of Uttara because he was a spotless pure devotee. Now if that is the case: a) Normally it is told that such an elevated devotee doesn't have to take a rebirth and that he goes directly back to Godhead. Why should Pariksit Maharaj take a rebirth? • The birth and disappearance of a pure devotee are both orchestrated by Krishna's divine will. Much as Krishna Himself takes birth from the womb of Devaki, the birth of pure devotees is under the shelter of internal potency, and they appear amongst us to benefit the conditioned souls. SB 1.12.16
